BMI

Black Market International

Black Market International will be artists-in-residence during the New Territories festival in March 2011 as part of its This Is Performance Art (Europe) series. Members of the collective will be mentoring three courses as part of the festival's International Winter School. The accepted participants will be assigned to a course on arrival. The fee includes tickets to all talks and performances by BMI and their guests, including BMI's own 12-hour performance on the Saturday, your attendance at these events is seen as anecessary part of the course.

Course 1, Exploring the possible:

mentored by Helge Meyer & Julie Andree T

In this practice based workshop concept, Julie Andree T. And Helge Meyer (with additional guests of Black Market International) will give the participants the possibility to develop a deep insight into different views of performance art. The participants will take part in different exercises that deal with main issues in performance art like the space-body-relation, the meaning and function of time and the concept of the "other".

Main issues are to work with space as a given frame for the process and the boundaries of the work. Working in a special "performance time" that is different to "normal time". Examining ones own speed in how to produce images, how to set up a process, how to present a personal, authentic dynamic. Also working in public places with the idea of a pure coincidental audience will be part of the work.

Over the ensuing days the participants of the workshop will learn about a variety of approaches to performance action through individual and group exercises. The practical work is reinforced by in-depth excursions on the work of selected artists like Black Market International and others. The participants themselves determine the ratio between theoretical and practical parts of their work to a large degree.

On other days we will make use of the surrounding environment for our actions to emphasize the public and open character of the work. The participants will learn about the differences between the principles of performance work and other art forms, to recognize a distinctive yet diverse form of expression. The starting point and the centre of the performance action will always be the body of the performer.

Course 2, The Element Of Chance:

mentored by Boris Nieslony & Jacques van Poppel

Although both Boris and Jacques have done workshops many times before, this will be the first time they do one together. Their cooperation started in 1981 and they always work without having a fixed plan in advance. They will maintain this attitude concerning this workshop, which means that there won't be a fixed programme. However, the participants of the workshop can anticipate doing such things as play, tell stories, improvise, produce short actions (alone and with others), eat and drink together, discuss motives, ambitions and in particular, issues around performance-art. You won't be together to achieve a certain goal, rather, it will be more an organic process in which you observe yourselves and hopefully gain something out of it. Possibly (but not necessarily) there could be a presentation at the end of the workshop.

Course 3, Trust Your Intelligence:

mentored by Jürgen Fritz & Elvira Santa Maria

Critical to Performance Art is the persona of the artist. By and through that persona the performative image develops. From this several questions can be deduced: What is a performative image? How is the performative image developed? What is presence? With what tools can performance artists work onpresence?

When teaching the praxis of Performance Art the mentors mostly begin with concrete, sometimes very intensive physical exercises. These exercises do not serve to teach performance art, the preoccupation with these tasks throw the participants back on themselves and so enhance the confrontation with their own aesthetic experience. Existing insights, images, or experiences, should be activated and brought into the actions.

By negotiating the topic of presence, the participant shall recognize him/herself regarding the given situation and the other participants. Here questions about impression as physical perception are the subject of the argument. Presence in this sense is successfully setting oneself in relation to the situation of the performance — as an action in the here and now.

Altogether this practical work is arranged into two parts: The first part is dedicated to the group performance, dealing with issues of common rhythm, impulse and perception. The accompanying exercises set the foundations for a common approach to performance art. The second part deals with the personal approach — to the topic, the material and the strategy of solo performance.

At the beginning of this process, each participant will be asked to show a solo performance and afterwards make a statement about how performing focuses their intentions and their understanding of performance art in general. This confronts ways to become aware of what you are doing in relation to your intentions. Later, the mentors will propose exercises that challenge and at the same time help to develop the self-observation of the doing.

Who is this for? Artists from all art forms with an open curiosity who wish to develop their understanding of performance art and related practices.

What you should bring with you: each workshop may require different objects so in anticipation of the course assigned to you please bring along:-